Quest For Resettlement Of Muslims In The North

By Yousuf K. Marikkar –OCTOBER 31, 2017

Dr. Yousuf K. Marikkar

Due to the prejudiced defiance of the ruling regimes in the past, many dejected youths in the Tamil community of the Northern and Eastern provinces, converged towards a militant movement, called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). They resorted to armed conflict to accomplish their inalienable rights without the support of their Muslim brethren and were annihilated at the end of thirty years old struggle. The LTTE in these provinces, also universally conveyed a wrong message and committed the ethnic cleansing with a misconception by forcibly evicting nearly 72,000 ethnic Muslims out of the Northern Province during the latter part of October, (black October) 1990 from their traditional homelands of many centuries. In the absence and persisting undue deferment of a sustainable solution, the forcibly evicted Northern Muslim IDPs (NMIDPs) are living in horrendous condition in and around Puttalam District for the past 27 years.

Challenges: This article explores the probability of challenges confronted in establishing a sustainable solution to the displaced Northern Muslims on truth, accountability, reparation, reconciliation and resettlement process and what the reasons for the persevering delay are. Contrary to the commonly spread belief that Sri Lankan Muslims float in wealth, the reality is that almost seventy percent of Muslims live below the poverty line, around ten percent live in IDPs camps in and around Puttalam in the North Western province in appalling conditions and almost five percent have been made IDPs in their own homes in the East, besides facing numerous other problems which strike the very root of their survival. Winning the war against LTTE and a few development activities alone will not win the hearts and minds of the minority communities in resolving the ethnic conflicts especially the displacement predicament and tardiness in ascertaining a sustainable solution for the resettlement of the NMIDPs with dignity. The core objective of this article is to investigate and evaluate the purviews and causes for the persisting delay and why still it remains unanswered for the past 27 years to resolve the forcible expulsion of NMIDPs. The unprecedented apathy in resolving this issue is the key highflier of this article.

Violation of Human Rights: The past human rights violations against the NMIDPs have not been adequately addressed with deep understanding of the nature of such violations. Settling alone them in their respective homelands would not bring out genuine and sustainable peace unless the root causes are looked into and addressed from a Human Rights perspective. The issue of the Muslim IDPs, particularly the NMIDPs should be considered from a different perception. Contributing factors of all stake holders the Government of Srilanka (GoSL), International community, NGOs, host communities, Tamil community, and NMIDPs to be scientifically analyzed. Reasons why the GoSL and the international community not supporting (or inadequate) a sustainable solution and reluctance of NMIDPs to return to their homeland are very important parameters. Also the extraneous and constant prototypes made them to behave in such manner and the forcible expulsion and persistent deferment of a dignified resettlement are purely due to religious based or civil, political, social and economic based aspects to be deduced.

Opportunities overlooked: Ending of the ethnic armed conflict in May 2009 opened a historical opportunity for the GoSL to bring about a just and lasting peace. Contrarily, majority of the forcibly expelled NMIDPs are still to be resettled. Why there is an unprecedented delay?  Only 20 – 30 percent has been resettled for the past 27 years is an unquestionable truth.  However, the critics argue that the government’s commitment in finding a Transitional Justice based process does not seem to go beyond infrastructure and economic development projects. The definitions given by the government and what these perceive as reconciliation and resettlement are different from how these are viewed by the international community and particularly the western liberal democracies beyond the purview of the protracted IDPs. Exploring the reason of these factors and any other related aspects which are major hindrances for the sluggishness in achieving a sustainable reconciliation and resettlement process centered solution is need of the hours.

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